Timeline
– 1902 to today
The roots of Triumph motorcycles go way back to the late 19th century when founding entrepreneur, Siegfried Bettmann, settled in Coventry, England and capitalised on a ripe English bicycle market. Bicycles soon became motorcycles and the evolution of one of the most famous names in motorcycling had begun.
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1990'S
Six brand new Triumph motorcycles were unveiled to the bike industry and press at the Cologne Show in September 1990. Based around two different engine formats, these models – the unfaired Trident 750 and 900 triples, the touring-oriented Trophy 900 triple and 1200 four and the sports-slanted Daytona 750 triple and 1000 four - employed a modular concept, meaning that many parts were common to all. They were well received in all quarters and the line up evolved over the next few years.
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| 1990 Daytona 1000 |
1990 Trophy 900 |
1990 Trident 900 |
But it was the advent of the Speed Triple in 1994 that really caught the press and the publics’ imagination. Just as the hopped-up Thunderbird had metamorphosed into the Bonneville in the ‘50s so the new Speed Triple captured a piece of café racer chic. It had a ton of character, plenty of performance and a raw look that was just right for the time. It also had its own one-make race series, which ensured that the public saw what the Speed Triple was capable of on a racetrack. Ever growing volumes brought the opportunity to evolve away from the modular concept and in 1997 the T595 Daytona was launched to an expectant world. Dispensing with carburettors its brand new three-cylinder engine used state of the art fuel injection, which at the time was a rarity. It also had a chassis the match of pretty much any production sports bike available and marked Triumph’s ability to not only exist as a manufacturing entity, but to lead once again.
Subsequently the fuel-injected engine was adopted to power new versions of the Tiger and Speed Triple, together with the unveiling in 1998 of a brand new sports-touring machine – the Sprint ST.
The end of the decade also saw an expansion to Triumph’s production facilities with work completed on a second Hinckley manufacturing facility.